The beauty of prosocial behavior: The bi-directional link between attractiveness and prosocial behavior

Abstract

This study explores the bi-directional relationship between attractiveness and prosocial behavior. While it is known that we often expect attractive people to act more prosocial, this research also examines how someone's actions can affect how attractive we perceive them to be. In a pre-registered incentivized behavioral experiment (n = 250), using avatar pictures representative of previous players in a dictator game, we asked participants (i) about their belief how prosocial the previous players behaved based solely on their avatars, which were either attractive or not, and (ii) to judge the avatars' attractiveness after learning whether their actions were prosocial or selfish. As anticipated, participants expected attractive avatars to behave more prosocially. More importantly, our study identified a robust causal effect of prosocial behavior on perceived attractiveness. Furthermore, those who already believed attractive people are more likely to be prosocial also judged the prosocial avatars as more attractive than those who were selfish. Our study highlights a dynamic, bi-directional relationship between attractiveness and behavior, offering a novel perspective on the intricate interplay of attractiveness, perception, and behavior in social contexts.

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